Matthew Bunker Ridgway

Ridgway, Matthew Bunker

Born Mar. 3, 1895, in Fort Monroe, Va. American general (1951).

Ridgway graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in 1917, the Command and General Staff College in 1935, and the Army War College in 1937. During World War II he served on the General Staff. From 1942 to 1944 he was commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, with which he landed in Sicily, Italy, and Normandy. In 1944–45 he was commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps during fighting in France, Belgium, and Germany. During the US intervention in Korea of 1950–53, Ridgway was commander of the US Eighth Army, and, from 1951, of American forces in the Far East and the so-called UN forces in Korea. In 1952–53 he was supreme commander of NATO Armed Forces in Europe. From 1953 to 1955 he was chief of staff of the US Army.

In 1955, Ridgway retired and subsequently became director of Colt Industries. He advocated the equal development of all the armed services and an aggressive anti-Soviet policy.

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